Conveyer



Dec. 25, 1923. 1,478,844

- J. A. ANDERSON CONVEYER Filed Oct. 20,.1919 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 amutoz JAAnder-san a4, @FQ? M a u J. A. ANDERSON CONVEYER I Filed Oct. 30. 1919 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 $4, I 42 fliww Gum/nu;

Dec. 25 1923. 1,478,844

J. A. ANDERSON CONVEYER Filed Oct. 20, 1919 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 fig. 5.

I (1144mm JALAnder-san m @QM Momma Patented Dec. 25, 1923.

JAMES A. ANDERSON, or MORGAN, UTAH.-

CONVEYER.

Application filed October 20, 1919. Serial No. 331,947.

of Morgan, Utah, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Conveyors for sterilizers, of whlch the followlng IS a specification.

The present invention relates particularly to conveyer mechanisms for use in sterilizing or cooking machines for canned goods, for movlng sealed cans of goods or food within the sterilizing chamber, in a course of suflicient length to insure thorough cooking or sterilizing of the contents of the sealed cans during their passage through thesterilizer while the conveyer is running at a suitable speed.

The conveyer mechanism is especially adapted for use in a sterilizer employing pressure cooking, but it will of course be understood that the machine may be utilized for pressureless sterilizing, or for sterilizing at atmospheric temperatures. a

Theconveyer is designed to receive sealed cans from a charging device, and after the food in the cans is sterilized, the conveyer finally delivers the cans to a discharging device, and as both of these devices oper; ate in a waterseal, it will be evident that the steam for sterilizing, is confined in the sterilizer casing, without undue loss.

In the accompanying drawings- Figure 1 is a front end view of the sterilizer in which the conveying appliance of the present invention is installed, showing the charging and discharging devices, and

the operating gears for, the conveyers or conveyer units within the sterilizer. Figure 2 is a side View in, elevation o the parts shown in Figure 1. Figure 3 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view through the sterilizer, the charging and discharging devices, and showing also the conveyer partly broken away.

Figure 4 is an enlarged, transverse sectional viewof part of the sterilizer casing, showing also the frame bars of the conveyer and a portion of the conveyer rolls.

' Figure 5 is an enlarged detail of a conveyer chain and conveyer unit.

Figure 6 is a vertical, longitudinal view partly in section of the conveyer and supports at the rear, inner end of the ster- :Figure-7 is an enlarged, detail vertical connected to longitudinal beams 15. 1 tops of the uprights are connected by suitsectional view, showing the construction of one of the endless chains and part of the conveyer, and the supporting rail or track.

Figure 8 is a detail of one of the plates for guiding the cans as they pass from one unit to a succeeding unit.

The sterilizing inclosure consists of a substantially cylindrical shell 1 designed to resist the necessary steam pressure, say about fifteen pounds to the square inch, and having a suitable steam supply connection 2 and other fittings which do not form a part of the invention. At the front end of the sterilizer as shown in Figure 3, the shell has a flange 3 to which is bolted a head or front plate 4:, and this plate has upper and lower can openings 5 and 6. Adjacent these openings there is provided a flange 7 for. the connection of the feed and discharge devices carried by the housings 8 and 9 respectively.

The housing 9 is connected to the lower flange 7 directly by means of a flange 10 on the housing, and the housing 8 is connected to the upper flange 7 by the interposition of a hollow spacer 11. The housing 8, with its cylinder and associated parts is referred to hereinafter as the feed mechanism A in the sense that these'parts are for introducing the cans into the shell or casing 1, and similarly the housing 9 with its cylinder and other parts form the mechanism at B for discharging the cans from the retort.

Within the retort or shell 1 is a conveyer supported by the conveyer'frame, consisting mainly of side uprights 12 and 18 resting on crossbeams 141 which are in turn The able transverse and longitudinal bars 16, and wheels 17 are journaled in the beams 15 and are flanged to run on rails 18 carried by suitable brackets 19 near the bot-tom of the shell; and the front ends of the beams 1.5 and certain of the longitudinal connecting members 16 are bolted tothe head 4:. By this arrangement when the head is unbolted from the head 3, it, with the entire articulated belt, the belts being superposed one above the other and each being of substantially the same construction except the top one which is extended through the feed opening 5 of the head and through the spacer 11 into the inner chamber 23 of the housing 8.

Each belt has at each side a chain 24 and these chains run on rear sprockets 25 which are idlers, and on front sprockets 26 which are driving sprockets. At regular intervals, opposite blocks of thetwo chains-are connected by transverse rods or bars 27, and at each end of each rod, adjacent the chain link, is a bearing stud-28, andsleeves 29'are mounted to turn on these studs as bearings.

Each sleeve has at each end, adjacent the chain links, a wheel 30,-and these wheels are arranged to run on tracks-31 at each side of the beltstructure bolted to theuprights 13. Each of the conveyer units has a track 7 for the lower side of both the upper and i the retort.

lower stretches of its belt. The sleeves 29 are spaced apart somewhat less than the diameter of the cans so that, as indicated in dotted lines in Figure 6, eachcan restsupon two of the sleeves. As the conveyer moves the wheels 30 are rotated by contact with their tracks, and thus the sleeves 29 are rotated, and each can is rotated continuously on its axis during all of itstravel through I It will be apparent that the conveyer is adapted to receive cans in rows of a suitable number, say ten cans in each row, and the conveyer and all of the can handling devices are arranged-to handle'the cans in rows of the'stated number.

Upper stretches of alternate conveyer units run in opposite directions, that is, beginning with the upper unit the top stretch runs to'the rear; in the second unit from the top the upper stretch runs forward and so on alternately until the bottom unit is reached, of which the upper stretch runs forward. The cans are thus conveyed first backward by the upper unit, and are then passed to the upper stretch of the second unit which carries them forward, and so on, until they are delivered at the front of the machine to be discharged from the retort by the discharge mechanism B.

To guide the cans as they pass from one 1n bearings in blocks 34, and the blocks are;

mounted to slide in guideways 35 of brackets 36 bolted to the rear uprights. 13. A screw 37 is connected toeach of the blocks, and these screwspass -throughrear plates 38 016 e brackets-tend by .nieans of inuts 39 shafts 40 mounted in bearings in the head 4,

and these shafts project outside of'the head at one end and are provided with gears 41 all of which mesh together so that when any one is revolved, all of the conveyer sprocket shafts are driven in unison in the proper directions. As previously stated the upper conveyer unit extends at the front through the hollow spacer 11 into the inner chamber 23 of the housing 8, and the drivesprockets 26 for'this conveyer. arecarried by shaft 42, passing through the chamber and extending outside of it at theright where isprovideda sprocket 43 connected by a chain 44 to a sprocket 45 carried by one of the other conveyer drive shaftsth'e third from to.pso that the upper conveyer-shaft and all of the others are-causedto run together in the proper relative dlrections as described. The

tracks 31. of the upper conveyer are extend ed through the spacer 11 to support the forward extension of the upper conveyer. The

feed mechanism A and the discharge mechanism B carried by'the housings 8 and 9 respectively difler somewhat in detail, but are similar in principle.

Both the feedmechanismand the delivery or discharge mechanism involve the use of a rotary drum or cylinder adapted to receive cams at one side, and after a half revol.u

tion to deliverthem at the other side, and in I device and extending'outside the casing,-and conveyer unlt to another, gulde plates 32 are provided at the rear of the upper conveyer carrying a gear 46. A yoke 47 secured to one end of the housing'provides abearing for main drive shaft 48 on which is main drive pinion 49 whichv engages both gear 46 andgagear 50 secured to conveyer shaft 42. Thus from the main pinion 49 the charging mechanism-A andall the conveyer units through their driving shafts, are

driven in unison in the proper relation.

The discharge housing '9' has an inner chamber151 communicatlng w th the interior of the shell, and guides 52 are provided to dead cans F the short distanceff from "the discharge end of the lower conveyer to the chamber 51.

The discharge device B has a shaft 53 carrying a gear 5 1% bywhich the shaft and the discharge device are driven and gear 54 is driven from the gearv 41 of the lower conveyer unit by means of an intermediate idler gear 55. Thus the discharge device B and its related parts are driven in proper relation to the remainder of the apparatus.

In one embodiment of the machine it is designed to run at such speed that 100 cans are run into and discharged from the shell per minute. A desirable cooking period for food, such as peas, which require thorough cooking under pressure to resist the internal pressure developed in the cans, is eighteen minutes, and with the rate of feed above mentioned, therefore, the area of the conveying apparatus is designed to accommodate eighteen hundred cans, and the speed of the charging and discharging devices will be five revolutions per minute. At the moderate speed of all the moving parts, their movement, without any lubricant other than moisture, does not entail any considerable Wear, or large amount of friction, and a machine of very moderate dimensions will handle a large number of cans while giving ing their entire travel through the shell, the

cans are continuously rotated so that all of their surface is exposed to the steam and the contents completely agitated. The conveyers with their guides and the charging and discharging devices are all constructed and arranged so that jamming or any injury or rough handling of the cans is avoided.

What I claim is- A heating chamber with inlet and dis charge openings, a series of continuous superposed conveyers traveling in said chamber in alternately opposite directions, article supporting sleeves carried by the conveyers, said chamber being provided with a vertical head forming an end Wall thereof, the inlet receiving end of the conveyer system projecting downwardly beyond the outlet conveyer, article feeding and ejecting devices for the conveyer system both being supported by and located on the outside of said vertical head and communicating with the conveyers within the heating chamber, the said downwardly projecting inlet being provided with an extension for housing the conveyer and inlet feeding device.

JAMES A. ANDERSON. 

